Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1308154
missile. Nonetheless, the missiles in question are gradually approaching the final days of their life cycles. The selection of a new me- dium-range anti-aircraft missile would be an important one here then. AIM-120D or Meteor missiles are being considered here. Originally though, Meteor was only to be integrated on the Tranche 2 and 3 aircraft. Regardless of the selection here, the avionics and the radar would need to be upgraded, so that these on- board systems are capable of working in sync with the new missiles of extended range. The potential upgrade of the F1 jets in the air-to- ground domain is another subject covered within the analysis. For instance, Paveway 4 integration could be a viable option here. Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 jets are going to re- ceive a different set of upgrades. Contrary to Tranche 1, the upgrades concerning the new jets have an international profile. This modern- ization is taking place within the framework of the so-called Phased Enhancement. Phase 1 Enhancement (P1E) is the first stage, divided into subphases - P1Ea and P1Eb. P1Ea effort had a limited scope and it pertained to a small number of jets. P1Eb upgrade created changes of greater significance - in the case of the British Typhoons, it involved the integra- tion of the Paveway IV bombs and the Litening III targeting pod. The second phase - P2E - is also divided into stages, three in this case. When it comes to the RAF, all of the Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 upgrades are taking place as a part of the Centurion program. The assump- tion is to modernize the Typhoons in a way that would fill in the capability gap the RAF has been suffering from, since the decommis- sioning of the Tornado. The program has been divided into phases corresponding with the Phased Enhancement stages: Ä the first one, with implementation finalized in 2014, assumed that basic air-to- ground capabilities would be established; Ä the second one involved preliminary inte- gration of the Storm Shadow cruise missiles and long-range Meteor AAMs; Ä the third one envisaged a full integration of the Storm Shadow and Meteor missiles, as well as the provision of a capacity to utilize the Brimstone Dual Mode missiles (work on phases II and III have been accomplished in late 2018/early 2019); Ä the fourth phase is to concern solely 40 Tranche 3 airframes. The main functionality that would be inte- grated on the British jets is the integration of the E-SCAN radar. The RAF created a set of much higher requirements for the new radar, especially in the area of electronic warfare, as opposed to Luftwaffe or Ejército del Aire. The most advanced E-SCAN ECRS Mark 2 ra- dar is being developed by BAE Systems and Leonardo to meet those requirements. The sensor is to come with relevant electronic war- fare capacity, electronic attack included. The aforesaid division of the Eurofighter mod- ernization program, into two, separate paths, is dictated by the design differences between the individual Tranches (3, 2, 1). The E-SCAN radar, as opposed to the prede- cessor, the M-SCAN radar with a mechani- cally scanned array, requires a beefier power supply. It also generates more heat. For that reason, the Eurofighter airframes belonging to Tranche 3A are prepared for the integration of the AESA radar at the production stage. These Typhoons feature a modified electrical system and a liquid cooling system for the radar. The jets also feature significant structural mod- ifications in the front portion of the airframe - especially in the bulkhead design. It had to be changed to support the greater weight of the AESA radar and the repositioning system. Tranche 2 Eurofighters also feature structur- al reinforcement, but they have no enhanced power supply systems and cooling systems available. This means that the aforesaid sub- systems need to be modified for these jets to be able to accommodate the new radar. The Tranche 1 aircraft have found themselves in the direst situation, as their front bulkhead has not been reconstructed, they also do not fea- ture the new electrical and cooling solutions. The reasons listed above and other differences www.fragoutmag.com